Bottle It Up
by Gotham Siren
Summary: Maria still couldn't get it through her head that it was okay to ask for help. She hated the thought that she couldn't express her feelings for Gabe, but she hated that she had to stray away from him even more. Gabe/Maria


**So, I've decided that this pairing is going to be my OTP for Trauma Team. Which ultimately means that this archive may be blown up with fic by me. That's generally how these OTPs wheedle around in my already crowded mind. Fair warning.**

**I do not own the rights to any of the "Trauma" series. Although, if I did, we all know that the games would not have screwed around with so many of the great relationships that could have been. **

_**Bottle It Up**_

Maria Torres tried everything to stop thinking of Resurgam's head diagnostician. Sometime during the six years that she knew Gabriel, their banter turned into a little bit more. She tried to fight her feelings, but rarely ever succeeded.

She might not even have had a problem with telling Gabe how she felt, if it hadn't been for the family dilemma he had himself tied up in. Lisa Cunningham had been terribly jealous of her husband and just how well he made friends with his co-workers ever since the Hispanic doctor knew the Cunningham family. Adding that onto Gabe's work schedule and his lack of interest to see his son and wife, this created a huge problem, this inevitably led to the divorce.

The paramedic always dogged Gabe about his family, and why he would rather be at his apartment, (or Maria's, depending on his mood), than at home with Lisa and Joshua. The diagnostician never gave a straight answer, of course. This was partly because, ever since he left his family, he was wracked with guilt. He could have tried to make it right years ago, but his own worry stood in the way. What made it worse was when he realized that he and Maria fought _way _too much for them to be just friends. As weird as it may have sounded, Gabe was falling for the incredibly independent Maria Torres, and had been for quite some time. He divorced his wife to try to make things easier. Joshua didn't need to know what his father was like. Lisa didn't deserve to have an estranged husband that was in love with another woman.

Maria never knew that she was partly the reason for her co-worker's divorce. She just figured that he finally decided to give up hope on his family, which only made her want to bottle up those feelings for him even more. She never had a constant family, and damn if she would be the reason for another kid to go through what she did.

-0-

The Hispanic paramedic picked up a glass box that contained _every _possible thing that her ex-boyfriend bought her. She knew that she was just with this guy to keep Gabe out of her head, but even then, all she could think about was him! Bryan Anderson was just used garbage, really. She tried to tell him to stop buying her stuff, (especially since he bought her that boxful of trinkets because he loved her. Maria didn't feel a thing for this guy, so she really felt bad taking all of it.) After months of trying to forget all about her co-worker, she decided to give up on it. The paramedic broke up with her boyfriend on the count of a _lost flame _or whatever the hell else poetic crap that Tomoe helped her come up with.

Maria tried to give the trinkets back, but Bryan wouldn't hear anything of it. Apparently, he was one of those emotional guys who would tell you to keep those gifts out of remembrance of him. The Hispanic doctor grumbled under her breath; he just _had _to make her feel guilty for using him.

She bit down on her lower lip in aggravation as she kept a sharp gaze on the glass box in her hands. It didn't matter that Gabe wasn't the one to buy her this crap, but he sure was who she thought of while looking at it. No matter _how _hard she tried, the diagnostician was always on her mind.

The paramedic's grip tightened on the box. That stupid lopsided grin of his… those annoyingly analytical brown eyes… and his unruly mane of dark hair; it was all too frustrating for her own good. She wanted him out of her head, and would do pretty much anything to do so.

An obscene phrase rolled off her tongue as she threw the glass at the back wall of her apartment. As the shards dispersed through the room, the brunette felt her heart dip.

"Dammit! What more do I have to do?" she shouted, storming away from the broken glass. Hot tears began to sting her eyes. This was just too much.

-0-

The following day at Resurgam was like a living hell. Maria barely got an hour of sleep before she was called in early that morning. Luckily enough, the last person that she saw that morning was Gabe.

-0-

Resurgam First Care's obligatory group was crowded in the break room, chomping on their mid-afternoon snacks. Maria had been quiet, but this was partly to blame on the diagnostician plopping down in the seat next to her about a half hour prior.

Gabe popped a chip into his mouth and looked over at the paramedic, arching an eyebrow.

"Maria," he began, the tone of his voice knocking her out of a trance.

"What?" she snapped. "Damn. Can't I eat without you talking my ears off?"

"Jeeze," Gabe scoffed, shifting his body away from the brunette ever so slightly. "I was just going to ask you if you were alright."

All eyes were on those two. If the group hadn't known any better, they would think that Gabe and Maria were going through a lovers' quarrel. They certainly fought like it…

The endoscope doctor looked over at CR-SO1 and Hank, a curious glint in her eyes. "Should we leave them alone?" she whispered to them.

"NO!" the diagnostician and paramedic shouted out simultaneously. They jerked their necks over to look back at each other, tension building up in the room.

Maria shot a glare back at Gabe. "Do you have a staring problem, moron?"

He let out a groan. "Yeah, right. I guess you still can't stand asking for help can you?"

The brunette's green eyes flared back at the diagnostician. "Even if I wanted help, you're the last person I'd come to!"

Tomoe sighed lightly and motioned for the other two doctors to follow her as she got up to leave the break room.

"Where the hell are you three going?" Gabe tossed over his shoulder.

"We're going to give you two some time to work this out," Tomoe answered, her tone slow and calm.

"What? Working what out?" Maria snapped. "There's nothing to work out!"

"Nothing that you want to work out, Dr. Torres," Hank replied, giving the bickering doctors both a knowing glance. "You'll thank us for this later."

Gabe stared back at Tomoe, Hank, and CR with his mouth wide open as they left the break room.

The paramedic let out a loud groan. "Great. What the hell do we need to work out? We fight all the time! What's new?"

The diagnostician was about to respond with as much venom as the woman before him did, until he saw her scratched up left hand. She had a long scratch running along the middle of her hand and little tiny scratches along her knuckles. All of his tension left the room as concern suddenly set in.

Maria caught him looking at her hand. She just quickly burrowed it in her lap.

"Maria, what did you do to your hand?"

She scoffed. "What are you talking about? It's fine."

"It doesn't look so fine to me. It looks pretty scratched up," Gabe passed her a pointed look. "Let me see it."

Maria got up in a haste, to which her friend quickly grabbed her by the arm.

"You think I'm letting you out of my sight now?" he asked, boring his eyes directly into her averting ones.

"Gabe, I'm fine. Now leave. Me. _Alone!_"

"No," he murmured, shaking his head. "I don't think so."

"Why not?" Maria asked against gritted teeth, her eyes glaring back at him.

The diagnostician swore that she glared at him like his grandmother's cat used to do. He hated that cat. He didn't hate Maria.

"Because," he started in a defeated tone, "I don't care how much we fight. You're still my friend. And I'm still a doctor."

The Hispanic doctor's face fell into one of confusion. Since when did this become a confession session? She _never _saw him look at anyone like he looked at her. Expect maybe Joshua. But why did he look at her with the expression he reserved for his loved one? Surely… no, the paramedic shook her head, that's impossible.

Gabe was able to take Maria's hand and inspect the wounds for himself. A solid frown etched across his lips. "Glass," he began, looking up at the brunette for confirmation, "Did you cut yourself?"

She sighed and nodded. "I broke up with Bryan and trashed the box he gave me."

The diagnostician arched an eyebrow. "Bad breakup or something?" On the inside, he was really glad that they broke up. He couldn't stand that guy. He was too clean cut for badass Maria Torres.

The paramedic gave a rough shrug. "It wasn't that bad; I just couldn't take looking at that box, and wouldn't take it back."

"And you couldn't pawn it off?" Gabe questioned.

"Wouldn't have done anything either way," Maria responded under her breath.

The diagnostician furrowed his brows together as he looked back down at the scars on her left hand. "Do they hurt?"

"It'll be fine," Maria began, growing a little more irritated. The more he asked about it, the more he made it seem like he cared. She never liked anyone caring for her, solely because she didn't want to be rejected.

Gabe had done a good job with hiding his feelings from Maria up until that point. He hated to see her upset, especially over another man. It made him want to kick that guy's ass and take Maria for himself.

As the two doctors stared back at each other, tension refilled the room. Though, this wasn't pent up anger. This was something else.

"Hey," the diagnostician began, breaking the silence. He gained the brunette's intense green eyes on his, to which prompted a lopsided grin. "No guy is worth breaking crap over. Especially if it gets you hurt in the process."

The paramedic snorted a bit, not really realizing that she and Gabe were growing closer by the second. "Why do you say that? Aren't you setting a bad example for all guys?"

"Nope. I'm not like all of those other guys. Sure, I've made mistakes," Gabriel began, a lump caught in his Adam's apple. "But now I've learned my lesson. _Never _let something you don't wanna lose out of your sight."

Maria was about to respond when the diagnostician gently crashed his lips over hers. Within the first few seconds of the exhilarating kiss, the snarky response from before had vanished.

"I'm not ready to lose you. Do ya get what I'm sayin'?" Gabe asked once he pulled his lips away from the paramedic's.

"Yeah. I get what you're saying, alright," a smirk played at Maria's lips before executing the next kiss. She couldn't believe that all it took was for her to get a few scratches. There was a ping of guilt in the bottom of her gut that reminded her of Joshua and Lisa, but really, how could she resist something that was right in front of her? Especially when she wanted it so bad. At least as his girlfriend, Maria could make him see his son again.

**Reviews are loved!**


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